Georgina "Georgi" Kaemmerer

GEORGINA KAEMMERER

1926-2015

Georgina (Georgi or Gina) Kaemmerer passed away peacefully on July 12, 2015 in the company of her friends, one week shy of her 89th birthday.  She was born in Oberndorf am Neckar Germany to Otto and Dora Kugler on July 20, 1926. 

Georgi graduated from high school and continued her education perfecting her talent for art by studying at the Academy of Art in Stuttgart where she graduated in April 1941 and then continued her training in graphic design until April 1943. During World War II she lost her brother and living in postwar Germany was difficult where she helped support her now single mother by working as a commercial artist until 1951.  In the summer of that same year in order to help fulfill her mother’s wish to eventually emigrate from Germany and live in the United States Georgi sailed by herself from Germany to Ontario Canada where she arrived without friends or employment. By determination, courage and resilience Georgi found her first job as a nanny, which she quickly knew was not the job for her.  She eventually found employment as a graphic designer for a Catalog company so she was able to use her artistic talents as the new beginning and foundation for her new life in Canada.  There she met her future husband, a fellow emigrant from Germany in 1951, Fritz Kaemmerer and they wed in the Lutheran Church in Toronto on February 7, 1953.  During the next 19 years they lived in a house they built themselves on a country property in Pickering Ontario.  Georgi loved nature, art and music, lived organically and traveled extensively throughout Canada and the United States.  On a trip in a small travel trailer, she and Fritz stopped to visit friends in Napa and fell in love with a small piece of land on a private lane surrounded by a forest of trees and small creek.  They decided to sell their home in Canada, leaving the pesky summer “bugs” and immigrate to the beautiful Napa Valley so in July of 1972 they settled down on that country property.  Georgi’s mother’s wishes to come to America were finally fulfilled when she was able to join Georgi in Napa some years later.

Over the next 40 years Georgi loved her property where she surrounded herself with her well-loved dogs and cats, a beautiful natural flower garden along the creek bed, an organic vegetable garden, fruit trees and most importantly her art studio.  The walls of her home and studio were filled with her sketches, portraits of family, friends and beloved pets, Napa Valley landscapesand art inspired by her travels or by a single image that she re-created into beautiful art piece.  She rarely sold her art but she gifted many of her friends with a special piece done especially for them that can be found world-wide.  Her other great love was music which soothed her always.  She was an accomplished musician and played the organand piano, always had a CD or cassette of her favorite taped music available and the radio tuned to her favorite classical music station. Music constantly surrounded even during her last days.  She loved travel and when no longer able to do so she often watched Rick Steves travel tapes to see the world.

Much of Georgi’s life was very private and was chronicled in her daily diaries, which she wrote for more than 80 years.  She was a strong, independent and talented woman.  She was predeceased by her mother, brother and husband, survived by a nephew and will always be remembered by her friends on “the lane”.

Arrangements for a memorial service will be announced at a later date.  Condolences can be sent to the family on-line at www.tulocaycemetery.org.

 Service Information